"Hume-ster"

Understand Ecological Groundedness​

One’s reactions to planetary predicaments ought not be based solely on blind optimism nor on blind pessimism—the two extremes that seem to color much of the public discourse. Some of those involved in the promotion of environmental solutions, for example, are what I call “boom-sters.” They argue that population growth and technological development are good for several reasons: 1) because people inevitably produce more than they consume; 2) because people are not bound by a carrying capacity of an ecosystem; 3) because people have the intelligence to improve their habitat by inventing technology; 4) because as yet unimaginable ingenuity will result in ecological solutions; and 5) because the free economic market will allow human products and human wellbeing to boom. Such a view, right or wrong, has a chance to become popular because it allows people to avoid the psychological discomforts that could accompany the other predominant view, that of the “doom-sters.” Those who adopt this “doom-ster” viewpoint tend to describe with fire and brimstone a “coming environmental hell in graphic detail” and scare their audience with “dreadful prophecies, then promise salvation through conversion to a new ecological worldview” (Winter and Koger, 2004, p. 19).

The “boom-sters” create hope (which is helpful unless it is blindly unrealistic) and the “doom-sters” create an urgency for action (which is good unless the gloom is so excessive it creates stultifying fear). Given our current environmental predicament, I feel we cannot afford the pessimism that tends to accompany the “doom-ster” perspective nor the naiveté (unfounded optimism) that tends to accompany the “boom-ster” perspective. I propose an alternate perspective –that of the “Hume-ster.”

A “Hume-ster” is supportive of the following contentions of Eighteenth Century philosopher David Hume regarding the psychological basis for human nature:

desire rather than reason governs human behavior;

perceptions are divided into strong and lively impressions, direct sensations, and fainter ideas which are copied from impressions; and

ethics are based on feelings rather than on abstract moral principles.

For these and other reasons, many of the theories and practices contained in this course, including the NatureConnect methodologies included at the end of each waypoint, are, intentionally and unintentionally, compatible with the writings of David Hume.

Those who engage in the HumaNatureConnect Activities throughout the Path, for example, are embodying Hume’s emphasis on the importance of direct sensation. I believe the element of attraction, so pivotal in all Heartwood Path HumanNatureConnect Activities, can be thought of as one of Hume’s “impressions”–– a conception that results from outer-world phenomena and are more passionate, lively, and forcible than a more feeble “idea” (Pratt) which arises after an inner world, mental reflection.

Through such inner reflections, ideas, and inner world impressions of outer world phenomena, one may consider that the world’s greatest need is the improvement of healthcare worldwide, or a more equitable distribution of food and water, or for improved education globally, or any of a number of actual, significant needs. For the purposes of this series of courses, let us for the moment determine that all of these needs are secondary to the primary need of environmental sustainability, for without a suitable and sustainable environment there cannot be any significant and enduring resolution of all of the other imaginable or verifiable needs.

Our destination, therefore, is an intersection of “happiness” and “the world’s greatest need--a “place” in your life that is at once metaphorical but also actually reachable. I call this place “Gladandgreen Junction.” Let us now break this name down into its three components because, in doing so, we will illustrate the purpose of following the Heartwood Path.

The first component is “Glad.” More than a temporary and trivial sense of joviality, the gladness we seek will be called “Triple A Happiness”--happiness that is authentic, abundant, and abiding. For happiness to be authentic, abundant, and abiding for our purposes here it has to have five components:

positive emotion (pleasure, rapture, ecstasy, warmth, comfort, etc.);

engagement (flow, stopping of time, loss of self-consciousness);

meaning (serving something bigger than the self);

positive relationships (emotional buoyancy due to other people); and

accomplishment (for its own sake).

The second component in “Gladandgreen Junction” is “green.” By this I mean a healthy lifestyle, environmental sustainability, a healthy environment, and environmental protection.

The third component is “Junction.” We will be looking not for happiness alone, nor for environmental protection alone, but for the meeting and the binding of Triple A happiness and environmental protection.

In leading people to this “place”, the Heartwood Path leads to a fantastic sense of fulfillment that arises when a person comes to life more fully. “To find our calling,” writes philosopher Frederick Buechner, “is to find the intersection between our own deep gladness and the world's deep hunger” (Second Journey Website). This intersection is a “place” but not necessarily a physical location. It is a “place” that is really a sense of purpose, as in the sentence: “It is not my place to tell you what to do.” I borrow the phrasing of the key purpose of the Heartwood Path from a marvelous little book by Buechner called Wishful Thinking (1973). Under the heading of “Vocation,” Buechner writes;

“There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Superego, or Self-interest. By and large a good rule for finding out is this: the kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done” (Buechner, 1973, p. 95).

​Except for the joy of tending to family and except for the joy remaining loyal to one’s own principles, I can think of no greater fulfillment than to find that place where you really get a kick out of your work, especially when that work is what really needs to be done for the world. All Heartwood Path Courses lead precisely to this highly charged and rewarding inner world “place” by taking you to your choice of attractive outer world places.

For reasons that will be made clear subsequently, almost all of these activities will occur in a real-world type of place that is not typically considered to be explicitly spiritual or explicitly transformational. Still, the kind of places I will be recommending––places out of doors, ranging from backyards or backwoods -- are perfectly well suited for your own hatching out. To be a good place for such personal transformation, a location will need to have all or some of the kinds of qualities intimated in the questions included in the following activity (Cope, 1999, 27-32).​

To Stand Firm Ecologically...

​HumaNatureConnect Activity​

If this is not a day when you prefer to spend time in nature without an agenda, do the following activity:​​​

Start-up Protocol​

Read The Text— Use your literary sense, your mind sense, and your reason sense to read your way towards happiness and sustainability but do not just be an arm-chair traveler. Use your other natural senses as you also spend healthful, fun, and productive time in nature on your way to Gladandgreen Junction.

Attractive Natural Being— With pen and journal in hand, go to a natural area and look around to find a natural being that is attractive to you.

Appreciation and Gratefulness— While admiring your chosen being, appreciate it with your inhalations and give it gratitude with your exhalations.

Consent— Once you find an aspect of nature that is attractive to you continuously for at least ten seconds, think of your continued attraction as your consent to have a connection experience that will lead to your optimal functioning.

The Natural Senses— After gaining consent to enter into a connection experience with the natural being, have available the list of Natural Senses. Mix it up by using at least one radiation sense, one feeling sense, one chemical sense, and one mental sense, to widen your perception, and add variety to your experience.

HumaNatureConnect Activity — After reading the text, finding a natural being, appreciating it, gaining its consent, and scanning the list of natural senses, use your heightened awareness and nature-induced optimal functioning to do the following activity and engage in as many follow-up components as you see fit.

Outdoor Places As Transformational Spaces​

For this activity, answer some or all the following questions:

What is it about this space that has, if at all, the quality of refuge?

What is it about this space that has, if at all, the ability to make you feel safe through constancy in relationship?

What is it about this space that, if at all, allows you to be creative and explore?

What is it about this space that has, if at all, the capacity to provide a transitional object, much as your baby blanket or teddy bear was a transitional object?

What object is there in your chosen outdoor space that is useful in taking you further into your inquiry or towards your goal?

How, if at all, is your perspective transitional object--be it a boulder, or a brook, or a beach, or a bird--constant and reliable?

How, if at all, are you making sure that you are not deifying (making into a deity) the transitional object.

How, if at all, are you making sure that your natural being or setting is being considered as a guide or exemplar and not considered as a spiritual being or as a god.

What is it about this space that, if at all, provides you with a way of finding out who you are?

What is it about this space that is suitable and not necessarily perfect as a place of transformation? And

What is it about this space that, if at all, allows for the acceptance of other paths of development?​

​​​​Follow-up ProtocolNatural Systems Reflection Process​​

For best results, write down your impressions of this activity in your journal using as many of the following components as you see fit, afterwards, share your interpretations with others.​

Journal Components​

General Description — writing a general description of how you did the activity and what happened.

Freeform — writing, in freeform, what you found attractive about your natural being.

Three Qualities — writing down three qualities you found most attractive about your natural being.

Three Learnings — writing down three things you learned from this activity.

Self-esteem & Trust — writing down how, if at all, this activity changed your self-esteem or trustfulness of Nature.

Changes To Self — writing down what aspects of your self, if any, were changed by this activity.

Honor Yourself — praising yourself and your commitment to making another stop along the Heartwood Path good for yourself and the world.

I’m A Person Who . . . — writing down three different so-called “G/G Statements” using the following format: “This connection experience tells me that I am a person who__________.”

Feelings If Activity Taken — writing down a sentence about how you would feel if you lost your ability to experience this connection.

Two-Word Summary — writing down two words that summarize your response to this activity.​

To see what conversations you can inspire, share your photos and impressions about anything pertaining to your journey down the Heartwood Path on your Facebook page, on Instagram, and on other social media accounts. If you like, include “#heartwoodpath” and “#waypoint(insert waypoint number here)” wherever pertinent

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Your input is vital. Enjoy sharing!

Heartwood Path Axioms: Key Assertions From Waypoint 1.3

1.3.1.A needed extra voice for those who speak up for the environment––which have been largely either the “boomsters” who may lead to unrealistic optimism or the “doomsters” who may lead to stupefying fear––can be called the “Humesters”––those who espouse philosopher David Hume’s emphasis on desire rather than reason as a preferred way to govern human behavior and his call to use perceptions (which include direct sensations) ideas, and ethics that are based more on feelings than on moral principles.

1.3.2.More than the other voices, the voice of the Humesters leads to Triple A Happiness––gladness that is authentic, abundant, and abiding.

1.3.3.Along with helping its participants find Triple A Happiness, the Heartwood Path series of courses helps participants come to the intersection of one’s own deep gladness and the world's deep hunger which can be defined as the need for environmental sustainability.

1.3.4.One can find the intersection of “gladness” and “greenness,” where one finds a natural being in a natural place that feels like a refuge, feels safe, promotes creativity, and provides inspiration.

Nocturnal Pilgrimage 1.3:Tend To Your Dreams Before Heading To The Next Waypoint

After a night of rest, move to the next waypoint: “Two Prerequisite Understandings.” After you get there, be sure to make entries into your Heartwood Path Activity Journal, as instructed.

EartHeart Tips:﻿Don't forget to bookmark your current location along the Heartwood Path for easy return.﻿